A SURROGATE DILEMMA tells the story of Andrew Noble, heir to the Noble Speciality Foods business. After leaving university he spends a year travelling the world then returns to the UK and takes up a position in Marketing in an electronics firm where over the next few years he builds his career eventually becoming Marketing Manager. But after that period of time there he believes that he is now ready to enter his family business in a position of some importance. However his father who heads the family firm disagrees and insists that he runs another business before joining Noble Speciality Foods and to this end arranges for Andrew to go to Africa to run a business there, learning the ins and outs of being head of a company, before allowing him to join the family business with an eventual view to him to succeeding him as Managing Director. Although reluctant but realising he has no option, Andrew agrees and soon discovers the trials and tribulations of being head of a business, especially one located in Zambia. However he quickly settles into the life there becoming a member of golf, tennis and ex-pats clubs and enjoys his rather privileged life, while also discovering that attractive female company is not too difficult to find. Returning to England almost three years later, wiser, more experienced and now ready to enter the family company, he rapidly settles into his destined role in the firm. He also meets and marries Becky and they have a charmed and delightful life together - until they decide to start a family. The book weaves together Andrew's business activities with the challenging and intimate experience of surrogacy that he and Becky undertake with their friend Linda. However none of the three people involved anticipate the outcome that follows from their fateful decision.

Once again Sir Mark Watson, businessman and womanizer, is the primary character of this latest novel and the fourth in the series featuring him and his complex business and private life as he embarks on yet another major change of career direction, replacing the responsibilities of being chairman of several businesses, with the challenge of buying a number of companies that he will personally own. Wheeling and dealing to make the acquisitions in spite of many pitfalls and challenges, he gradually begins to acquire a diverse range of companies while, at the same time, managing his convoluted love life, with affairs aplenty, as well as dealing with a personal health issue. But following his divorce and now having passed sixty, he is becoming disenchanted with his convoluted single lifestyle and yearns for the comfort and satisfaction of married life again.

A SURROGATE DILEMMA tells the story of Andrew Noble, heir to the Noble Speciality Foods business. After leaving university he spends a year travelling the world then returns to the UK and takes up a position in Marketing in an electronics firm where over the next few years he builds his career eventually becoming Marketing Manager. But after that period of time there he believes that he is now ready to enter his family business in a position of some importance. However his father who heads the family firm disagrees and insists that he runs another business before joining Noble Speciality Foods and to this end arranges for Andrew to go to Africa to run a business there, learning the ins and outs of being head of a company, before allowing him to join the family business with an eventual view to him to succeeding him as Managing Director. Although reluctant but realising he has no option, Andrew agrees and soon discovers the trials and tribulations of being head of a business, especially one located in Zambia. However he quickly settles into the life there becoming a member of golf, tennis and ex-pats clubs and enjoys his rather privileged life, while also discovering that attractive female company is not too difficult to find. Returning to England almost three years later, wiser, more experienced and now ready to enter the family company, he rapidly settles into his destined role in the firm. He also meets and marries Becky and they have a charmed and delightful life together - until they decide to start a family. The book weaves together Andrew's business activities with the challenging and intimate experience of surrogacy that he and Becky undertake with their friend Linda. However none of the three people involved anticipate the outcome that follows from their fateful decision.

Once again Sir Mark Watson, businessman and womanizer, is the primary character of this latest novel and the fourth in the series featuring him and his complex business and private life as he embarks on yet another major change of career direction, replacing the responsibilities of being chairman of several businesses, with the challenge of buying a number of companies that he will personally own. Wheeling and dealing to make the acquisitions in spite of many pitfalls and challenges, he gradually begins to acquire a diverse range of companies while, at the same time, managing his convoluted love life, with affairs aplenty, as well as dealing with a personal health issue. But following his divorce and now having passed sixty, he is becoming disenchanted with his convoluted single lifestyle and yearns for the comfort and satisfaction of married life again.

A story of two ambitious executives each fighting to secure the one big job that has unexpectedly become available following their Managing Director's sudden announcement that he is relinquishing his role to spend more time with his wife who is suffering from a life threatening illness. Both executives are utterly determined to successfully gain the promotion. Caroline, the attractive Marketing Director deploys all her feminine wiles and charms to persuade the interview panel that they should give the job to her. But her rival the Sales Director Rob embarks on a programme of illegal incentives and other methods to secure new business to try and put himself in pole position for the job. Open To Persuasion is an intriguing story about business, but also a compelling study in how people might disregard their normal scruples and beliefs in right and wrong.

FOOTSTEPS IN THE SNOW explores the concept of whether Ghosts really do exist? The four stories are all quite different but each deals with the apparent physical manifestation of a being from 'another place'. Ghosts? Maybe? * Jeff is out walking his dog in the snow through some woods when he meets a young girl. Who is she? Why is she there? * Russell takes a career break from his job to write a book but he meets Alice and after a passionate affair their final meeting is bizarre. * Matt and Sarah have renovated an old cottage to create their dream home and all is well until one day out riding he meets a strange man by an old oak tree. * Greg enrols at a Business Management College to attend a four week programme but he soon finds all is not as it seems in the old house. So do ghosts exist and if so can you talk to them? Can they talk to you? Of course I don't know the answer and I doubt whether anyone does, or ever will - but I definitely wouldn't say that they don't exist So read (and hopefully enjoy) the four stories in this book and then perhaps it will help you to make up your own mind on this interesting question of whether ghosts really exist? And if you get goosebumps or your hair stands on end as you come to the end of each of the tales, well then maybe you might just believe that ghosts do exist. After all you never know do you - they might

A TWIST IN THE TALE is a book containing four different stories - but what each story has in common is that they all have an unusual and unexpected ending. A final unforseen twist - hence the title. The first - SEA DEEP- tells the story of Pete an advertising man in London who is suddenly made redundant. Finding it difficult to get another job in the world of advertising he embarks on an adventure to fulfill an ambition which subsequently completely changes his life. The second - ILLUSION - recounts the impact on a small boy during World War Two of seeing captured Italian soldiers behind barbed wire in a prisoner of war camp built on the moors outside Sheffield and the friendship that he establishes with one of them followed by his subsequent attempt after the war to meet the man back in his home village near Milan. The third - CHOICE - again returns to the Advertising and Marketing world. As the story evolves we see how the central character Dave struggles with his conscience over the affair he is having with a work colleague, and how it affects his relationship with his wife and two children. Eventually he has to make a choice - wife or mistress? But fate has a way of interfering in his decision. The final story - GONE - deals with the issue of a businessman happily married for ten years but who one Sunday afternoon simply walks out of their farmhouse and completely disappears. Where has he gone and why? And who is the mysterious Bulgarian woman who appears on the scene and what has she got to do with the missing man? A taut "who-dun-it" which like the other stories at the end has a Twist in the Tale .

The Boss is a work of fiction and Mike Upton's fourth novel. The book is a challenging story set in the world of business and tells how Helen Buckley an accountant by training and profession, attempts to fight her way to the top in a highly competitive and difficult corporate world controlled and dominated by men. It follows her early life, her many love affairs, her marriage and the reasons for its failure, as well as charting her progress as she struggles to prove that she is as good as a man in solving company problems and confronting business difficulties. Innovative in finding solutions to business problems she gains a reputation as an expert wheeler dealer which leads her to decide to branch out on her own by setting up her own business consultancy which soon becomes highly successful. However the stress of her business life leads her on an increasingly steep downward path towards alcoholism which threatens to destroy her business, her personal relationships and ultimately her life. Her battle against the ravages and effects of alcoholism are well and accurately documented, as are her attempts to overcome the effects of this awful illness. A moving and sensitive story, with an interesting twist in that there is a choice of endings.

ARROW OF TRUTH is a "who-dun-it" and tells the story of how William Hardy, the third generation owner and Chairman of a family manufacturing business, struggles to keep his company going in the face of increased demands from his customers and ruthess competition from his competitors, as well as suffering arson attacks, bomb threats and blackmail letters from an unknown assailant. But as he finds business life more and more difficult he realises that unlike his father and grandfather before him, he doesn't have the natural business flair that his forebears did. Manwhile the Company's bank believing that the business is on the verge of bankruptcy installs a team of turnaround experts to work with him to try and save the business from collapse and then rebuild it towards its former glories and fortunes. But while William is battling with these compex and demanding business issues, he is totally unaware that his wife, obsessed with a secret lover is betraying and cheating on him. However in a delightful twist of irony it is also she who is betrayed by her lover but not in a way that might be expected. Set in Norfolk, England the story is a fast moving thriller set within a business background where the many characters and events interact with each other as they unfold.

WINNERS NEVER LOSE is the second book about Mark Watson who once again is ruthlessly wheeling and dealing but this time in the Oil and Pharmaceutical Industries. Still married to Abi although now with a secret son conceived with his mistress Samantha, he cheats on both women as he embarks on various affairs whilst callously pursuing his business career. The novel follows his progression through the Oil Industry before he is head hunted into the complex world of Pharmaceuticals, where he employs his usual unforgiving management style to transform a moribund international company into a world class Multi-National by aggressively acquiring many of his competitors. As the story moves between England, America, Europe, India and finally Australia, Mark Watson uses all of his hard nosed uncompromising approach to people and business to achieve the goals and aims he sets for himself.

This is a story of one man's ambition. Mark Watson while still a schoolboy sees his father's business destroyed by the bombastic industrialist Sir Charles Houghton and vows to find a way to avenge his father when he grows up. The story tells of Mark's birth, his early years and his schooling while alongside charting the progression of his father's business from its humble beginnings then through its growth and expansion phases until as a result of the underhand dealing of Sir Charles it stumbles into serious financial problems. An unsupportive bank's refusal to lend more money forces the business to collapse. The traumatic impact of this event on Mark and his parents is what starts him on his search for revenge. He enters the world of business and in his single minded and rapid climb through the ranks of industry he discovers a natural skill at developing exciting new products and handling advertising campaigns. His continued climb up the corporate ladder, his ability to take risks, his ruthless approach to managing people and above all his on-going drive to succeed in the vow he made to his father, all serve to fuel and spur him on with his all encompassing ambition. Romantic interest is woven throughout the story from Mark's first fumbling attempts to date girls, his marriage and his many affairs. His need for women and their love flows right through the book as he struggles to understand and balance his passion for love, marriage and illicit affairs mixed with the thrill and excitement of business. Headhunted to become Chief Executive of a large but moribund multi national corporation, he finally moves into a position of power and authority where he can start to implement his planfor revenge as the action moves smoothly between the UK, USA and Europe. The company is re energised and reorganised. Aggressive business strategies are implemented while he ruthlessly exploits uses or discards people to achieve his own personal and ultimately selfish objectives. Progressively out thinking and out manoeuvring Sir Charles his obsession to destroy his older rival becomes all consuming. He establishes a specialised secret commercial intelligence unit to track every aspect of his target's company then uses a wide variety of methods to attack them. His hard-nosed ability to win Board room battles and his increasing skill in manipulating important City Institutions, Bankers and Financiers to support his own ideas, including the removal of his Chairman who he sees as blocking his ambitions, all move him inexorably towards his goal. As matters unfold towards their dramatic climax he is prepared to do anything to win. Blackmail, industrial espionage and constant pitiless unrelenting pressure on his rival are all tools in Mark Watson's hands as he relentlessly pursues his goal. The question though is will he succeed and reach his Ambitions End?